The Portland boys basketball team led for all but 44 seconds of its district title game against Hastings Friday night at home.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, that time included the last 34 seconds of the game.

Saxon senior Maxwell Clark hit a pair of free throws with 34.4 seconds left and the Raiders were unable to convert on two shot attempts in the final seconds as Hastings won the District 47 title by a score of 39-38.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Portland coach Dave Pettit said he was happy with his team's effort.

"The kids executed the defensive game plan really well. We just needed to figure out a way to get one more basket," he said. "But the effort was tremendous from everybody that got in the game to everybody that didn't get in the game that prepared us. We had a good day of practice yesterday and today after school."

Portland raced out of the gate Friday, opening the game with a 10-2 run, then took a 14-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter. In the second, the teams played almost even as the Saxons made five of eight free-throw attempts and one field goal, while Portland's scoring came of two field goals and two makes at the line by Brodie VanRiper. At the half, The Raiders led 20-14.

"We talked about coming out and trying to get something in transition because they are so good in their half-court defense. So we tried to push the ball early," Pettit said. "We got a couple run-outs and a couple of layups in transition, so I was really happy with the start."

The second half started with Portland senior Jared Krausz hitting a 3-pointer, his first of the night, to extend the Raiders advantage to 23-14. Then, after Clark responded with a two-point basket, Krausz got open again from long range and buried another jumper to make it a 10-point game.

Clark again countered, but this time he drained back-to-back 3-point baskets to make it a 26-22 contest.

One minute later, Raider senior Drew Roe knocked down a made 3-pointer, giving Portland a seven-point lead with 3:08 in the quarter. Hastings scored the last three points of the period, cutting the Raiders' lead down to 29-25.

Ian Beck and Clark made back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 29-29 early in the fourth, but the Raiders countered with a 7-0 run to take a 36-29 lead with 5:22 left. However, Hastings scored the next eight points, giving them a 37-36 lead with 3:05 to play, its first advantage of the game.

Portland Junior Zach Gustafson scored with 2:55 left to put Portland back up by one, and the Raiders made three straight defensive stops to keep the advantage, until a foul call put Clark at the line with 34.4 seconds to go.

Page 2 of 2 - Clark made both free-throws to put Hastings up for good.

Raider senior Jared Krausz led Portland with 14 points in his final game in a Portland uniform. Gustafson scored nine points, while Seal finished with seven.

Clark paced Hastings with 18 points, while Beck finished with six.

Pettit said the team is going to miss their seniors next year, but he is happy with many of the underclassmen coming back next winter.

"We've got a good group of juniors and Sam Goodman, who is a sophomore, so those guys are going to have to step up," he said. "We've got Gustafson back and Brodie VanRiper, who played well tonight and has gotten better as the season went on. You throw them in with guys like Goodman and juniors Andrew Click, Auston Brandt and Jacob Pohl and we've got a nice group coming back.

"Our six seniors are six really good kids and I've appreciated all of them. I've had four of them for two years, Adam Goodman for three years and Krausz for four years, so we're really going to miss our seniors and their leadership."